


With a Crack and a Scream

by Sohotthateveryonedied



Series: I See Dead People [1]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Canonical Character Death, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, From Janet Drake's POV because I thought that would be fun, Gen, Ghosts, Hurt/Comfort, It's wild folks, This is when Tim first unlocks his ability to see ghosts, Tim Drake is a toddler, Tim Sees Dead People, Trauma, i was right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21648940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sohotthateveryonedied/pseuds/Sohotthateveryonedied
Summary: The first time Tim Drake realizes he can see ghosts is the same day that jump-starts his life of obsessing over Dick Grayson, stalking Batman, and being confronted with the souls of the dead everywhere he goes. The day the Flying Graysons fall.
Series: I See Dead People [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557490
Comments: 16
Kudos: 476





	With a Crack and a Scream

**Author's Note:**

> HIYA FOLKS. This is such a good life hack because I've been wanting to do a fic about _That Day_ at the circus for a long time but I also wanted to do more for my Medium!Tim AU, so I just mooshed it all into one! Isn't that nifty. 
> 
> Enjoy!

One of Jack’s coworkers gave them the tickets yesterday. In all honesty, Janet never cared much for the circus. It made her nervous as a child—all the colors and loud noises. But it’s the first time the Drakes are spending time together as a family in nearly five weeks, so why not?  
  
Their seats are in the third row; right up close to the action. Timothy sits between his parents, happily eating cotton candy with sugar-coated fingers while he watches each act perform. Even as Jack and Janet argue over his head, Tim is too mystified by the magic of the circus to pay them much attention.   
  
Then the Flying Graysons _finally_ come on stage, and Tim goes wild. “Mom, look!” he says, pointing and tugging on Janet’s sleeve. “Look, it’s Dick! I took a picture with him!” Jack shushes him.  
  
The audience watches with rapt attention as the littlest Grayson takes to the air, performing a quadruple somersault on his next swing as if he were born for the sky rather than land. Tim’s eyes don’t leave him the entire time.   
  
“Wow,” he breathes.  
  
When the act reaches its end, Tim cheers louder than anyone in the audience.   
  
Up next are the other two Graysons. They climb the ladder, and Tim stands up on the bench to get a better view. Janet wraps an arm around his waist to keep him from falling as he tilts his head to see as high up as possible.   
  
Absently, Janet checks her watch. She and Jack have a gala they need to be at in five hours.   
  
True to their name the Graysons take flight, and Tim’s tiny eyes widen as he follows their path—slicing through the air. “Mom, they’re _flying,”_ he marvels. His chubby baby fingers clutch his mother’s shoulder to hold himself up as he wobbles on the seat, practically vibrating with excitement. Janet knew letting him have all that sugar was a mistake.   
  
Then the unthinkable happens.   
  
The rope snaps.   
  
Janet’s hand flies to cover her mouth in shock. Tim gasps beside her.   
  
Screams and gasps emit from every direction as the acrobats go careening towards the ground—no net in place to stop their descent. The entire tent stares in horror as the Flying Graysons’ bodies hit the floor with a sickening _crunch._  
  
There is a moment of stillness.   
  
A moment of complete silence as it becomes apparent what just happened, only to be broken an instant later when the circus tent is thrown into chaos. Onlookers scream and shout, some breaking for the exit. The circus members onstage stare at the bodies with tears in their eyes, stricken because what can they do now? It’s already finished.   
  
There is no saving the pair of corpses on the ground in center ring, limbs akimbo and blood already pooling around them.   
  
Worst sight of all is that of the last little Grayson. The boy who was nice enough to take a picture with Timothy earlier is now crying, shoulders quaking as he falls to his knees beside his parents’ bodies. He curls around them, sobbing.   
  
Oh, god. That poor boy can’t be more than eight or nine years old—as much a child as Timothy. To undergo that kind of loss at such a young—   
  
Janet’s eyes widen.   
  
For the first time since the rope broke, Janet realizes who she is forgetting. And in the span of half a second she prays, _prays_ that Tim missed it, but she knows in her gut he didn’t. No boy as observant as her son would look away from something like that.   
  
She turns and finds Tim motionless where he stands on the bench, staring down at the bodies on the ground. His cotton candy has fallen to the floor. He’s still holding onto his mother’s shoulder, but Janet can’t help the instinctive jolt in her stomach that comes with looking at Tim—at the way he looks at _them._  
  
Pure, innocent blue eyes blown so wide because poor Timothy has never _seen_ anything like this before. He’s never known death. He’s never met tragedy, yet here it is now, spilled before him in a grotesque scene that makes _Janet’s_ stomach twist, and she’s an _adult._  
  
She moves in front of Tim and wraps her arms around him, trying to block the awful view with her body. “Don’t look, honey,” she tells him.   
  
Jack curses beside her. “Did he see?”   
  
Somehow, Janet has the presence of mind to roll her eyes. “What do you think?” She rubs Tim’s back, shushing him and whispering soft ‘it’s okay’s.   
  
Because _she’s_ utterly shaken by what just transpired. She can’t imagine what Tim must be thinking right now. He’s barely old enough to comprehend the _concept_ of death. So young and impressionable…   
  
“I thought you were supposed to be watching him,” Jack says.   
  
“Forgive me for being a little _distracted,”_ Janet snaps.   
  
Tim doesn’t stop struggling in her arms, trying to peer around her at the scene below. They can still hear Dick Grayson crying. “Mommy,” Tim says. “Are they dead?” It’s said with curiosity, rather than fear. Janet’s mortified he even knows the word.   
  
She’s always getting compliments from nannies and daycares about how fast Timothy has been developing: saying his first word at six months old and piecing together full sentences by seventeen. But she has no _idea_ how to confront the fact that her two-year-old son just watched two people fall to their deaths twenty feet in front of him. None of the parenting books mentioned anything like this.   
  
“Why’s Dick crying?” Tim asks. “His mommy and daddy...they’re right there.”   
  
“I know, but it’s different now, sweetheart.”   
  
“No, they’re—” Tim tries to pull away and points at the scene behind her. “They’re standing right there. They’re hugging him. Why’s he still sad?” And Janet has no _idea_ what her son is talking about, no idea how to explain to him that those people are now dead, doesn’t _want_ to explain it.   
  
So she stands and picks Tim up, placing him on her hip. “Come on, Jack. We’re going.”  
  
By now the circus people and roustabouts have clambered to the center ring, shouting and trying to handle what must be leagues above their pay grades. Someone is telling Dick Grayson to step away from the bodies and let the adults take care of it, but by the sound of his sobs he’s none too cooperative.   
  
Jack and Janet head for the exit, following the flow of the crowd. Tim’s sticky toddler hands wrap around Janet’s neck as he rests his head on her shoulder, still staring at the gruesome scene. “Why aren’t they dead? They got smashed up hard enough, right, Mom?” And Janet wants to be sick.   
  
This is _not_ how the day was supposed to go. Not a single bit. She makes eye contact with Jack, whose mouth is set in a grim line as he watches their son view the bloody site with such peculiar interest. Then Jack’s eyeline catches something over Janet’s head, and his mouth drops open.   
  
Tim gasps as well, and against her better judgement and gag reflex, Janet turns to look.   
  
There, behind the boy grieving the worst moment in his short life; behind the broken corpses on the ground; behind the rest of the crowd who bustles around the scene in blind panic and unfiltered horror, is _him._ _  
_ _  
_Batman.  
  
Janet can’t see Tim’s face from this angle, but she feels the way he picks his head up in awe. _“Whoa.”_

**Author's Note:**

> In case you couldn't tell since this was from Janet's POV and all, the moment the Graysons fell was so traumatic that something unlocked in Tim's brain and his power to see ghosts emerged. So when he saw Dick's dead parents standing over him and hugging him sadly, that was the first time Tim ever saw ghosts. So yeah. 
> 
> Thank you for consuming my version of the same 26 letters in a different order! For every comment I will bake a cupcake in your honor and then throw it out the window. 
> 
> [Feel free to mosey on down to my Tumblr!](http://sohotthateveryonedied.tumblr.com/)


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